Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2009 > September > 17 > Entry
Review: “Community” (NBC)
(Left to right) Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley, Danny Pudi as Abed, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, Joe McHale as Jeff, Alison Brie as Annie, Chevy Chase as Pierce, Donald Glover as Troy in “Community.” NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater
Have you spent any time at a community college? Talk about a melting pot … all ages, races and economic backgrounds welcome. If there’s a better setting for a half-hour sitcom, I can’t imagine what it would be.
The creators of “Community,” the newest addition to NBC’s powerhouse Thursday night comedy line-up, have mined that setting for laughs and wrapped them around charismatic Joel McHale, host of E!’s “The Soup.”
Tonight’s episode does a good job of introducing the characters, including McHale’s scheming Jeff Winger, a former lawyer whose license was revoked when his college degree came into question: “I thought you got a degree from Columbia?” his friend and client — and Greendale Community College head — asks. “Yes. And now I have to get one from America,” Winger replies. “And it can’t be just an e-mail attachment.”
The dialogue is snappy and the characters are diverse, including “The Daily Show’s” John Oliver as the ethically bound leader and a surprisingly tolerable Chevy Chase as moist towelette fortune heir Pierce. Characters that sound problematic in theory, such as Danny Pudi’s Abed, who has trouble differentiating between movies and real life (he can’t help but compare Winger’s faux study group to “The Breakfast Club”) really work well within “Community’s” twisted community. Pretty Gillian Jacobs — Abed can’t get past her resemblance to Elisabeth Shue — is a formidable foil for Winger as the street-smart object of his obsessive, slightly creepy affection.
If the name Winger sounds familiar, it might be because McHale’s misdirected character — it’s hard to call him a slacker when he works so hard on his schemes — is a direct descendant of Bill Murray’s John Winger from “Stripes.” “Community” shares (or, I guess, steals) much of that film’s comic sensibility.
You won’t see him tonight, but watch next week for Ken Jeong (King Argotron from “Role Models”) as scene-stealing Senor Chang, an Asian Spanish teacher with a hilarious chip on his shoulder.
“Community” airs at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. Tonight’s episode: B Next week’s episode: B+
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV, Random thoughts, Review
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.